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Jul

25

2011

Hothead Games, the makers of Deathspank and the Penny Arcade Adventures, have made an iOS game called Kard Combat. Similar to that of Magic The Gathering.

Kard Combat is an ancient tournament of cards and magic. Grow your magical powers and your Kard collection by battling your way up the Black Tower, floor by floor. The rewards you earn will help you defeat the Arch Mage, Harkus, and the many other magi you may encounter online.

Mar

28

2011

Controlling your minions in Swarm has gameplay that’s reminiscent of Pikmin on the Nintendo GameCube or Overlord in recent years. The difficulty quickly ramps up to that of Super Meat Boy frustration (at points). While it doesn’t require lightning-quick reflexes, it does rely on trial and error. And you will error, a lot. Death for your swarmites isn’t the end, but a means to an end. You see, you are rewarded to kill a few of your swarmites to help reach a goal or extend the combo meter. Kill too many and you’ll be reset to one of the bountiful checkpoints strewn across each level.

You have a few abilities at your disposal. You can press the right trigger to huddle your swarmites to stick together, build a tower by pressing A but at the expense of speed. You can press the left trigger to spread them out and move a much faster pace. Swarmites can pick up bombs to throw them at enemies or gates to open the way forward or pick up lights to illuminate their path. You may think it’s not very much in the way of abilities or systems to progress through the game, but these limited options are the key to your survival and keeping the combo meter up. The combo meter is absolutely essential to to progress. Each level has a set score, once beaten – you’ll gain access to the next level. Combos can be maintained by collecting little pink popcorns or DNA from broken objects or enemies. You’ll run across bigger DNA strains (5 per level) that are required to go to battle with the game’s bosses.

Death is as I said, more of a help than a hinder. Death Medals track how many and what type of kills happen to your swarmites. They will progress from nothing to Bronze to Silver to Gold. Once you get them all to gold, it does nothing but give you a nice, shiny achievement. But you’ll do this naturally you won’t have to go out of your way to do so.

The main menu let’s you experiment with death by simply pressing Y and the single swarmite on screen will meet an untimely and bluish, gooey death. It is quite satisfying when things aren’t going your way. Speaking of death and not going your way, as of late – the game likes to freeze up when reading the Leaderboards. I’m not going to hit the game too hard for this as it’ll likely get a title update to remedy this. I was able to bypass the issue by not being connected to the internet and therefore won’t read the leaderboard to freeze.

All in all, Swarm is a unique type of game well worth your money for this clever, unique, squishy, death-filled adventure.

Retails for: $15.00, recommended purchase price: $12.00

An XBLA code for the game was provided by Hothead Games for Review purposes

Mar

22

2011

UTV Ignition Entertainment, alongside Hothead Games, the mad scientists of decidedly unscientific downloadable titles, is pleased to launch from their catapult, the hotly anticipated title Swarm, today on PlayStation Network and tomorrow, March 23rd, on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. PlayStation Plus members can purchase the title for $12.99 and it will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points or $14.99 via Xbox Live Marketplace.The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

“Swarmites have an ability to evoke gleeful chortles of doom with their daft expressions and sheer willingness to die in hilarious ways,” said Nigel Fox, Head of Publishing for UTV Ignition. “The key to creating a great game like Swarm is in its addictiveness and Hothead has managed to pull that off-the last thing you want to do is put down your controller.”

Swarm is the first game to feature mass character control, where players move all the Swarmites at once. Steer the flock of pudgy, clueless little blue morons through the game and they naturally flock and flow around obstacles. Creatively combine swarm moves to work your way through a relentlessly dangerous and hilariously brutal environment. Compete against friends to get the high score by deftly moving through the world and cleverly solving puzzles the game throws your way.

“We’ve double checked everything. Each saw blade has been finely sharpened, every bear trap has been sprung as tightly as possible,” said Joel DeYoung, Producer of Swarm at Hothead Games. “The gas canisters are full, the electricity is charged, every bomb is armed, and the acid is suitably corrosive. We are now putting the Swarmites into the capable hands of players.”

Mar

21

2011

Austin, Texas-March 21, 2011– UTV Ignition Entertainment, alongside Hothead Games released today an all-new video for their highly anticipated title, Swarm. Swarm is the first game of its kind, developed with a unique character control where players direct a pack of 50 hapless blue buffoons towards death while trying to reach the end of each level. The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

Swarm gives players control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drives them through an intense and often suicidal battle of survival. Swarm is the first game to feature mass character control, where players move all the Swarmites at once. Steer the flock of pudgy, clueless little blue morons through the game and they naturally flock and flow around obstacles. Creatively combine swarm moves to work your way through a relentlessly dangerous and hilariously brutal environment. Compete against friends to get the high score by deftly moving through the world and cleverly solving puzzles the game throws your way.

Swarm begins shipping tomorrow March 22 on PSN and launches Wednesday on Xbox 360. Until then, here is a fun video on sensitivity training (Swarmite style!) to whet your appetite before the big launch. Enjoy!